SRU theatre professor's 'Dark North' heads to Columbus stage

SPOTLIGHT

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Slippery Rock University theatre Professor David Skeele's play "Dark North" has been selected for presentation at the MadLab Theatre in Columbus, Ohio.

The work will be part of the troupe's May 1-24 Roulette Festival.

MadLab Managing Director Andy Batt said the festival received 999 submissions, but could only select nine plays for presentation. "It was really great that 'Dark North' ended up being one of them," Skeele said.

"Dark North" revolves around television psychic Daniel Dark North, who makes a lucrative career out of communing with the dead, but one afternoon, in the bowels of a crumbling Connecticut mansion, he discovers sometimes the dead really ought to stay that way.

Billed as a supernatural horror, Skeele's play was presented to five-star reviews at the 60th Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland in the summer of 2006. The festival is described as the largest international arts festivals in the world. A group of seven SRU students and seven student technicians traveled to Scotland to stage the play. Students also presented it on the SRU campus.

Previous reviews of the Scotland performance included praise from Britain's Three Weeks, a journal covering the festival, which said, "Dark North had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as I was sucked into its terrifying and nightmarish world. The cast of seven, working with minimal props and a nearly bare set, created an intense and unnerving atmosphere with a delivery of mesmerizing and gruesome characters. David Skeele's script is superbly handled by this talented young ensemble from the wonderfully named Slippery Rock University, in Pennsylvania. This is one of the most gripping and original pieces of theater I've ever seen, and it deserves a packed house every night."

Slippery Rock University is Pennsylvania's premier public residential university. Slippery Rock University provides students with a comprehensive learning experience that intentionally combines academic instruction with enhanced educational and learning opportunities that make a positive difference in their lives.